Electrically controlled indicator for scales



Nov. 11, 1952 J. ANDERS ELECTRICALLY CONTROLLED INDICATOR FOR SCALES Filed Jan. 22

Patented Nov. 11,1952

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEGTRICALLY CONTROLLED INDICATOR FOR SCALES Application January 22, 1947, Serial No. 723,537 In Austria July 31, 1946 '3 Claims. .1

This invention relates to 'a device for electrica'lly controlling the movement of an indicating means into 'one of a plurality of positions corresponding to the positions of av recording apparatus, so that any position of the latter is made visible by said indicating means.

The indicating means, preferably-a dial, is, according to the invention, arranged upon a shaft with a ratchet gear, said ratchet gear being rotated by a pawl in turnactuated by an electromagnet. According to the numeral co-ordinated to the position of the recording apparatus a number of current impulses corresponding to said numeral is conducted to the magnet, so that an equal number of partial'revolutions is imparted by..said magnet to the shaft ofthe dial, the numeral to be transmitted being'made visible by said dial.

' Through an actuating, means of the, recording apparatus there is c1osed,'at atime, one of aseries of contacts denoted'by the numerals to 9 lying within the current circuit, which is co-ordinated to the numeral to beindicated. These contacts are connected to the separate contacts, denoted in equal manner, of a first contact bank cooperating with a Wiper. The wiper of said first contact bank and a second wiper co-operating with a second bank of interconnected contacts arranged upon a common shaft to be actuated'by a step-.by-step device comprising an electromagnet, arelay, and a pawl and ratchet gear. A further .relay is connected to .thefirst wiper. and to the. second contact bank in such a mannerlthat said -relay supplies current to the contacts of saidfsecond bank during the step-by-step revolution of .said shaft only .at the moment when the first wiper has reached that contact of its contact bank which is supplied with current by the actuating means of therecording apparatus. Through the interconnected contacts of the second bank, thecorrect number of current impulses is imparted for the actuation of the electromagnet driving the indicating means during the further movement of the associated second wiper, so that said magnet turns the dial by means of the ratchet gear from its position of .restover the numeral i! to the numeral to be indicated.

The indicating device. according to the invention. is schematically shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, .in whichFig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of the part cooperating with the recording apparatus, Fig. 2 the circuit diagram of the part of the device connected to the indicating means, and.Fig. 3 the circuit diagram of the indicating means proper.

The switches ,P with the make contact of the device shown in Figure '1 co-ordinated to the numerals 0 to 9 may be closed successively through an actuating means M of the recording apparatus A--H. If the means'M is moved for example -as 'faras switch 5 "for the purpose of indicating the numeral'5 on the dial 35 of the indicating means, arranged for instance at a remote location, said switch 5 remains closed, the contact 5' of the contact bank 41 being supplied with current by means 'ofthe current source S. During this movement of the actuating meansM towards the switch 5 switches .0 to 4 are in fact momentarily closed, but they open, however, immediately again automatically, so that the contacts B to t of the contactbank 41 remain dead.

Thus, inorder to transmit thenumeral 5 to the indicating means, i. e. the dial 35 according to Figure 3, the manual switch 23 0f Figure2 is momentarily closed. Thereby the step-by-step device comprising theelectromagnet I'IJ, the relay 2:1, and the pawl andratchet gear I2, I5, I! is put into operation, in that the magnet HI is excited by the current from the current sources flowing in through the line 5| and the rest contact .28 of the relay 24, so that the armature ll of the magnet l0 closes the make contact 29 of said magnet, the relay 24 being excited through the line 52 directly by current from the current source S. The armature 53 of said relay thereby opens its rest contact 23, the magnet 10 thus again becoming deenergized and. its armature ll being caused to fall off. Thereby the make contact 29 and thus likewise the current traversing the relay windings are once more interrupted.

The armature I l of the electromagnet has, during its operation, turned the ratchet wheel I! of the shaft l6 corresponding .to one of its ten teeth by means of the lever l2, and of the pawl l'5,/and thus brought the wiper I8 fixed upon theshaft l5 into contact with the slip ring 22 connected to the current source S. vIn this manner the electromagnet It, the armature of which has fallen oil, is excited over the wiper l8, the slip ring 2! of said wiper, the lines 44 and:5l, and the relay contact 28, so that the armature ll of said electromagnet drives the ratchet wheel [1 by a further step and turns the shaft 16. 'The alternate function between magnet, relay,and ratchet gear continues thereupon automatically until the wiper i8 passes beyond the right end of the current supplying slip ring 22. Thus the step-by-step device comes, after-eleven impulses by the armature ll of the magnet, to a position of rest, and the wiper l8 has, after a revolution of 180, again reached a starting position.

Simultaneously with the movement of the wiper l8 the wipers l9 and 20 mounted upon the same shaft 16 are likewise moved eleven steps into the final position corresponding to the initial position of said wipers l9 and 26, being thereby turned 180 through the contacts 9" to El", and 9 to respectively, of their banks 46, and 41, respectively. When during this movement the wiper 20 of the contact bank 4! reaches the contact 5 which, as is supposed, is the only one supplied with current, the relay is excited over the slip ring 2! of said wiper, and its armature 54 closes the make contacts 26 and '21. Thereby the contacts 9 to 0" of the bank 46, which are connected up together, are supplied with current, the relay 25, after the interruption of the contact of the wiper 20 with the contact 5, being excited by the current from the slip ring 22 through its contact 26, and six current impulses being successively conducted, during the movement of the wiper I9, from the contacts 5" to 0", through said wiper, its slip ring 2|, and the control line 45 to the electromagnet 3i! for actuating the dial 35. The armature 55 of said magnet thus turns by means of the pawl and ratchet gear 48, BI, the shaft 36, and the dial 35 mounted upon said shaft, from its resting position 0 over the dial position 0 in six steps into the position 5, the numeral 5 being thus indicated.

In order thereupon to zeroize the dial 35 and return it to a position of rest for the purpose of a further indication, said dial is further turned by the electromagnet 30 in the same direction, by closing the hitherto open switches 59 and 50, and by reversing the change-over switch from its position II into the position I. By this change of the connection the magnet 36 is connected to the relay GI and the gear 48, 3|, constituting therewith a step-by-step device, which is supplied with current from the current source S through the slip ring 38, the wiper 33 mounted upon the shaft 36, the slip ring 34 of said wiper, the line 55, and the rest contact 42. In consequence thereof the dial 35 is turned by the shaft 38 five further steps from the position corresponding to the numeral 5 into the rest position 0. Thereby the wiper 33 leaves the slip ring 38, so that the step-by-step device 1.

comes to rest.

During the movement of the wiper 3'5 over its slip ring 38 the wiper 32, which is likewise mounted upon the shaft 36 and displaced with respect to said wiper 33 by 180, has moved from its final position at the right side, in which said wiper 32 is out of contact with its slip ring 31, into the final position at the left side, so that said wiper 32, in cooperation with said slip ring 31, must take over during the following indication the function of the wiper 33 and of its slip ring 38, if the switches 49 and 5B, opened in the meantime, are closed and the change-over switch is brought from the position I into the position II.

While the invention has been shown in the particular embodiment described, it is not limited thereto, as modifications thereof may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device for controlling the movement of indicating means to a selected one of a plurality of positions corresponding to the position of a recording apparatus; said device comprising a series of contacts each corresponding to a related position of the recording apparatus, mechanical contact closing means adapted to be actuated by the recording apparatus and operative to close the contact of said series corresponding to the position of the recording apparatus, a series of electrical impulse producers corresponding in number to said series of contacts, a common step-by-step actuating device effective to successively condition each of said impulse producers for operation, rotary selector means including a series of selector contacts electrically connected to the related contacts of the first mentioned series of contacts and a wiper driven by said step-by-step actuating device to successively close each of said selector contacts, a selector relay electrically connected to said rotary selector and energized when said wiper closes the selector contact connected to the closed contact of said first series corresponding to the position of the recording apparatus, an energizing circuit for said electrical impulse producers, switch means interposed in said energizing circuit and actuated by said selector relay to close said circuit when the relay is energized, a working circuit connected to said electrical impulse producers to receive the electrical impulses when the latter are energized and successively conditioned for operation, driving means for actuating the indicating means, and means connected in said working circuit and operative to move said driving means in step-by-step fashion in response to the electrical impulses in said working circuit.

' 2; A device for controlling the movement of indicating means to a selected one of a plurality of positions corresponding to the position of a recording apparatus as set forth in claim 1; further comprising an auxiliary impulse producer connected in said working circuit, means for energizing said auxiliary impulse producer, and means actuated by said driving means operative to interrupt said energizing means for the auxiliary impulse producer when said means moving the driving means has been eifective to return the latter to its initial position.

3. A device for controlling the movement of indicating means to a selected one of a plurality of positions corresponding to the position of an apparatus for recording numbers with at least two digits; said device comprising a separate electrical impulse producer with a series of contacts for each digit of the recorded number, an energizing circuit for said electrical impulse producers, a common step-by-step device' for simultaneously actuating all of said impulse producers and including only one relay and one electromagnet, each impulse producer further including a mechanical means adapted to be actuated by the recording apparatus and operative to close a contact of said series of contacts corresponding to the value of the related digit in the recorded number, rotary selector means including a series of contacts electrically connected to the contacts of said impulse producers and a, wiper driven by said step-by-step actuating device, said wiper being adapted to always run from the maximum position to the zero position of the related contacts of said rotary selector means after it has once been caused to operate to thereby successively close each of said contacts of the rotary selector means, a selector relay electrically connected to said wiper for transmitting the produced impulses to the associated indicating means and energized when said wiper closes the rotary selector contact connected to the closed contact of said series of contacts of the impulse producer, said selector relay including contacts electrically connected to a bank of said rotary selector means, each of said impulse producers including a second wiper actuated by said step-by-step device, a working circuit connected to said second wiper of each impulse producer to receive the electrical impulses from the latter, driving means for actuating the indicating means for each digit of the recorded number, and a stepby-step actuating device connected in said working circuit and operative to move said driving means in response to the electrical impulses in the Working circuit, only a single electrical connection being provided between the J O-HANN ANDERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,504,609 Crane Aug. 12, 1924 1,872,851 Van Weenen Aug. 23, 1932 2,040,073 Brendel May 12, 1936 2,192,421 Wallace Mar. 5, 1940 2,311,455 Muehter Feb. 16, 1943 2,430,113 Handley Nov. 4, 1947 

